Black Eyed Susan Day at Pimlico Race Track

On Friday we departed Silver Spring for Baltimore, as it was Black Eyed Susan Day, and that's just what my parents and the T.s have done off and on for years. D. has a number of routes to get to the track, one of which led us through some bad construction in the downtown area, but we got there eventually. Man Baltimore is a weird place. So many boarded up buildings. So much obvious poverty. But at least in the one small section of a neighborhood we drove through, it also seemed like there was a sense of community. People out on the streets talking, church ladies getting things out of cars in church parking lots. Yard sales outside the abandoned buildings. I don't know what I'm talking about. Soon after arriving I had the signature Black Eyed Susan drink in my hand, I never did track down exactly what it was. Mainly orange juice and maybe vodka, I'd suppose.
B. also created a lovely little bag of snacks for us to munch on throughout the day. Salami sandwiches and pretzel chips and such. My previous Black Eyed Susan included steak sandwiches, so you'll be blown away by what happened on Preakness day. Not really at all.

I wore my strappy sandal wedges. These are miraculous shoes. I wish I had time to go to DSW and get pairs in different colors.
Daddy-o looking stern.
B. and D. looking less stern. It was, of course, strange to be at this event without my mother. In some ways I was filling her fourth role, but not really because I'm not her. It is what it is: hanging out with the grown ups, minus one of the grown ups.
Me with a very strange smile on my face. I look like I'm trying to imitate a movie star or game show host.
B. was nice enough to take a photograph of the two of us.
I forget which race we arrived for, maybe the fourth. I proceeded to lose all the money I brought. It was sad. But I had budgeted (sort of ) to lose it, and it didn't all go to the track's coffers. Some went to beer, which I guess means that in one way or another, it all did go to the same place. Or maybe not. I really don't know.
The little red headed girl was yelling up a storm. I"m not 100% convinced that she really knew which horse she was rooting for as she was yelling for the entire race, even when the horses were behind the huge obstructive tents. I should mention that it was a little wacky that the infield's construction blocked pretty much everyone in the grandstand's view of the far side of the track. Didn't seem exactly right since I'm pretty sure the grandstand seats cost more than many of the infield's options. But I don't really know about that either.
She was very excited. I couldn't tell if her horse won in the end or not.

God bless the zoom lens. I kind of want an even more zoomy one for birds and the like, but I also want a macro one for foods and whatnot. Decisions, decisions.
And that is a little collection of the photographs from day one. I took many, many photographs of horses running, figuring I could sort out and crop some to make more dynamic images. But I'm lazy. Maybe at the beach next week. Beach!